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Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)
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<blockquote data-quote="vandaexpress" data-source="post: 6622977" data-attributes="member: 6790472"><p>Enhancing the Red Wizards...</p><p></p><p><strong>Thayan Knights</strong></p><p></p><p>I put two <strong><em>Thayan Knights</em></strong> with Rath Modar and Azbara Jos in skyreach. There's a brief writeup/picture of one <a href="http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Thayan_knight" target="_blank">here</a>. Stat-wise, they're reskins of the knight, except with shields and longswords, brute attribute for an extra die of damage, and the ability to use a reaction to add 2 AC to an adjacent ally when attacked, advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened).</p><p></p><p>The fight with the Red Wizards was quite exciting. Rath's staff lets him lock down corridors with <em>wall of fire</em> between him and the party to keep from getting sniped (it blocks line of sight), then he can just lob <em>fireball</em> through the wall at the PCs (doesn't require line of sight). The Thayan knights were excellent bodyguards for protecting the wizards and helped them live a little longer against the <em>haste</em>-infused powergamey murder hobos. Unfortunately, Rath went down before he could get away, though.</p><p></p><p>I love the Red Wizards and have tried to build up their encounters a bit more. I will be using the Thayan Knights in place of the wights recommended by RoT... it didn't make sense to me that the Thayan Resurrection, fighting against the largely undead Thayan Loyalists and the Zulkir of Necromancy, would utilize undead bodyguards, especially since the majority of Thayan Necromancers remained with Szass Tam when he seized control of Thay... not to mention Wights have pretty weak attack bonuses which makes them fairly unremarkable guards against PCs of a level sufficient to face a Red Wizard.</p><p></p><p><strong>Making Rath More Interesting</strong></p><p>An idea I went with is making the Rath Modar in Skyreach a <em>simulacrum</em> and bumping his level up by two. I did a lot of playtesting on that encounter and I found that the chances are quite good that the PCs will kill him the same round they start dealing damage to him, especially if they're hasted, at least my group did. Making him a simulacrum fits his illusionist background - just make sure to leave clues and hints that he has been known to use them, so it doesn't feel like a cop-out cheat death maneuver. I'm not a fan of having him resurrected as suggested in RoT. This also allows you to award the party's mage an excellent magic item in the <em>staff of fire</em>.</p><p></p><p>I plan to utilize a few Red Wizards as part of the ambushes in Rise, using <a href="http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/media-resources/art-galleries" target="_blank">these portraits</a> from <em>Dead in Thay</em>. I will also most likely be expanding Episode 8 in Rise to include a lot more adventuring in Thay.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Closing thoughts on Hoard</strong></p><p>The weakest points for my group were the Roadhouse and Naerytar. I can see the caravan being a drag if we had done it. High points were episode 1, the hatchery, and so far, skyreach. Honestly, my strongest recommendation would be to echo Chris Perkins in saying "Don't be a slave to the text". There's a good story in Hoard, but it shines much more strongly when you deviate from what's written to add more flavor to the enemies and incorporate side quests for your PCs and their motivations. The weakest points for the group were when I stuck to what was written without incorporating my own twist on things, it sounds incredibly conceited, but that's not my intention. Places like the Roadhouse and the Bullywug cave beneath Naerytar are dull and boring if you don't mix it up a bit. I expect I will most likely be throwing out a lot of the stuff in Rise of Tiamat to focus on adventures that tie into character backgrounds, using the cult as a backdrop and the concluding fight with Tiamat as a capstone for the campaign.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="vandaexpress, post: 6622977, member: 6790472"] Enhancing the Red Wizards... [B]Thayan Knights[/B] I put two [B][I]Thayan Knights[/I][/B] with Rath Modar and Azbara Jos in skyreach. There's a brief writeup/picture of one [URL="http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Thayan_knight"]here[/URL]. Stat-wise, they're reskins of the knight, except with shields and longswords, brute attribute for an extra die of damage, and the ability to use a reaction to add 2 AC to an adjacent ally when attacked, advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened). The fight with the Red Wizards was quite exciting. Rath's staff lets him lock down corridors with [I]wall of fire[/I] between him and the party to keep from getting sniped (it blocks line of sight), then he can just lob [I]fireball[/I] through the wall at the PCs (doesn't require line of sight). The Thayan knights were excellent bodyguards for protecting the wizards and helped them live a little longer against the [I]haste[/I]-infused powergamey murder hobos. Unfortunately, Rath went down before he could get away, though. I love the Red Wizards and have tried to build up their encounters a bit more. I will be using the Thayan Knights in place of the wights recommended by RoT... it didn't make sense to me that the Thayan Resurrection, fighting against the largely undead Thayan Loyalists and the Zulkir of Necromancy, would utilize undead bodyguards, especially since the majority of Thayan Necromancers remained with Szass Tam when he seized control of Thay... not to mention Wights have pretty weak attack bonuses which makes them fairly unremarkable guards against PCs of a level sufficient to face a Red Wizard. [B]Making Rath More Interesting[/B] An idea I went with is making the Rath Modar in Skyreach a [I]simulacrum[/I] and bumping his level up by two. I did a lot of playtesting on that encounter and I found that the chances are quite good that the PCs will kill him the same round they start dealing damage to him, especially if they're hasted, at least my group did. Making him a simulacrum fits his illusionist background - just make sure to leave clues and hints that he has been known to use them, so it doesn't feel like a cop-out cheat death maneuver. I'm not a fan of having him resurrected as suggested in RoT. This also allows you to award the party's mage an excellent magic item in the [I]staff of fire[/I]. I plan to utilize a few Red Wizards as part of the ambushes in Rise, using [URL="http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/media-resources/art-galleries"]these portraits[/URL] from [I]Dead in Thay[/I]. I will also most likely be expanding Episode 8 in Rise to include a lot more adventuring in Thay. [B]Closing thoughts on Hoard[/B] The weakest points for my group were the Roadhouse and Naerytar. I can see the caravan being a drag if we had done it. High points were episode 1, the hatchery, and so far, skyreach. Honestly, my strongest recommendation would be to echo Chris Perkins in saying "Don't be a slave to the text". There's a good story in Hoard, but it shines much more strongly when you deviate from what's written to add more flavor to the enemies and incorporate side quests for your PCs and their motivations. The weakest points for the group were when I stuck to what was written without incorporating my own twist on things, it sounds incredibly conceited, but that's not my intention. Places like the Roadhouse and the Bullywug cave beneath Naerytar are dull and boring if you don't mix it up a bit. I expect I will most likely be throwing out a lot of the stuff in Rise of Tiamat to focus on adventures that tie into character backgrounds, using the cult as a backdrop and the concluding fight with Tiamat as a capstone for the campaign. [/QUOTE]
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